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victory
Jul 1, 2007 20:22:30 GMT -5
Post by venger on Jul 1, 2007 20:22:30 GMT -5
We are, against all odds, triumphant over the forces of evil.
Good team work all. Nice hustle, Raven.
After many, many more rounds of combat, and the reappearance of the evil priestess, the dark elf leaders (and a fighter) escaped under cover of insect plague (staff). All the other enemies were slain.
The driders were burned, drow heads were collected and one lucky specimen was taken whole for purposes unclear...
They had little of worth, except their exquisite drow arms & armor which we took some of as well.
We have retreated to the outside, retrieving Dell and entering a cave a couple hundred feet down the mountain face, to rest and recover.
There was an incident with a giant that we won't talk about. Otto handled it.
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victory
Jul 1, 2007 20:27:17 GMT -5
Post by Dell on Jul 1, 2007 20:27:17 GMT -5
The driders were burned, drow heads were collected and one lucky specimen was taken whole for purposes unclear... Perhaps we can make some kind of magic resistant cloak out of its skin.
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victory
Jul 1, 2007 20:58:32 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 1, 2007 20:58:32 GMT -5
Raven drank his potion of Cloud Giant Strength and wreaked havok. He slew driders with his sword and then hurled corpses as boulders. It was awesome. Antonus flew around the battlefield using the wand of paralysis on the spiders, which was also awesome. Otto did very little, as he was stopped with a wand of paralysis almost immediately after being unheld. Antonus had been charmed and hit Otto and then Raven. That was very pretty catastrophic. Raven was then unheld and hurled spiders at the drow leaders, almost killing the magic user before he fled. He hit the priest with the arrow of slaying, but she saved.
Pfiffwin would flee, the drow would chase him, give up, and then he'd hit them when they'd attack someone else.
All in all, a good day.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Jul 2, 2007 8:43:45 GMT -5
On Otto:
Cedrus cast Slow Poison on Otto. Winthrop then ran over and stood over Otto to bring him within the Minor Globe and negate the Hold and Charm. Then they ran up onto the dias together to keep Otto within the Minor Globe and attacked the 7/7 F/M. The F/M levitated out of reach so Otto killed the spider that came up to attack up from behind. That was about the time that it was determined that the Minor Globe had expired a few rounds before and that we had been lucky that the drider forgot to give Otto new orders. It was then that the charmed Antonus paralyzed Otto. The evil cleric also sent a couple of insect plagues to munch on Otto as well. Otto was able to vent his frustration a bit by jumping off the mountain and feather falling down to the giant that was going to pick up his breakfast (i.e. Antonus). Otto hit it twice healing himself back up and as a afterthought remembered to retrieve the unconcious Antonus and bring him back.
We are currently all in the giants lair which is 100 feet lower on the mountain. The elf woman that ran away has not been seen. Dell is still his debonair self since we would want to do a combine to cast the Heal off the scroll. We have not started the sleeping and healing process yet.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 2, 2007 9:18:09 GMT -5
You might remember that for every trip up or down the mountain we rolled a d8. You might also remember that no one rolled a 1. Antonus finally did when flying around and a giant shouted something unintelligible in common and tossed a boulder at him. The giant was of unknown type. Storm giant size but not a storm giant.
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victory
Jul 2, 2007 15:33:38 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Trommer on Jul 2, 2007 15:33:38 GMT -5
On Perrin:
As I remember it Cedrus released Perrin from being held. Perrin then ran across the room to heal Raven who was taken to zero. With the mace dialed to defend and standing in Raven's 10' Pretection from Evil the Spider and Drider were unable to hit him. Feeling confident the mace was dialed up to smack some spiders. He then did some pounding on the held driders until they were killed. I forget what else he did.
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victory
Jul 2, 2007 15:49:23 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 2, 2007 15:49:23 GMT -5
On Perrin: As I remember it Cedrus released Perrin from being held. Perrin then ran across the room to heal Raven who was taken to zero. With the mace dialed to defend and standing in Raven's 10' Pretection from Evil the Spider and Drider were unable to hit him. Feeling confident the mace was dialed up to smack some spiders. He then did some pounding on the held driders until they were killed. I forget what else he did. Perrin didn't have his paralysis removed, it simply stopped. The combat lasted 29 rounds, beginning to ending. At that scale, even a 10 round Hold Person goes away pretty quickly.
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Perrin
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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victory
Jul 3, 2007 19:36:34 GMT -5
Post by Perrin on Jul 3, 2007 19:36:34 GMT -5
We survived! Thanks for the update on Perrin.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 10:17:36 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgar on Jul 5, 2007 10:17:36 GMT -5
After many, many more rounds of combat, and the reappearance of the evil priestess, the dark elf leaders (and a fighter) escaped under cover of insect plague (staff). All the other enemies were slain. We have retreated to the outside, retrieving Dell and entering a cave a couple hundred feet down the mountain face, to rest and recover. Way to go! An impressive victory. Were we unable to follow the remaining drow because of the insect plague or were we in such sorry shape that we didn't think it was prudent? Aren't we worried that they will grab the Great Druid and make a run for it? Is the plan to take several hours to rest and more time the memorize? Or are we going to rely on the magics of Dell and Adrienne to carry the attack? If we rest that will just give time for their spell casters to rest as well. If we can press the attack with full strength Dell, Adrienne and Otto then I think we should. Has Hugh tried his Locate Person spell? Do you think we could use it to find the drow leaders if we can't locate the Great Druid?
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 10:55:59 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 10:55:59 GMT -5
If we unfeeblemind Dell, he will have no spells memorized, which makes him even more useless than he is usually. I actually did suggest that we press on since Otto is full and Jasper is mostly full. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Before we had much of a chance to argue we heard a gong, and then another gong. At that point, regrouping seemed like a great plan.
I'm not sure what they're doing with the great druid, but they have a few options. We've been assuming that they've kept him alive because if they kill him another druid will take his place. With him alive, another great druid cannot be selected. They're keeping him here because the weird stone in the mountain foils scrying attempts.
If they leave with him, we'll be able to hunt them down (as will all the other druids, clerics, etc in the area). They might just kill him and run off. There's a good chance they'll stay and fight. Obviously, predicting the behavior of a chaotic evil priest is very difficult, but will she really abandon her temple to a bunch of surface-dwellers?
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 11:14:15 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgar on Jul 5, 2007 11:14:15 GMT -5
Hearing gongs does change things.
I was assuming that there is some entrance to the Underdark here since drow are unwilling to travel great distances overland. Also many of their magic items lose efficacy when too long removed from their homeland. So I was thinking they would just grab the Great Druid and carry him further underground if they were worried that this location had been compromised.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 11:23:58 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 11:23:58 GMT -5
If it's that easy to take him into the Underdark, wouldn't they have done it already in the last year? There must be some pretty compelling reasons for him to be here.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 11:37:51 GMT -5
Post by Dell on Jul 5, 2007 11:37:51 GMT -5
Right now, it looks like the plan is to hold in place for 20 hours to re-spell and make sure everyone is cured of lethal poisons.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 14:14:31 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 14:14:31 GMT -5
Do we want to rest until fully healed and spelled up? Or maybe a "mere" 12 hours?
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 15:19:46 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgar on Jul 5, 2007 15:19:46 GMT -5
If it's that easy to take him into the Underdark, wouldn't they have done it already in the last year? There must be some pretty compelling reasons for him to be here. I think your explanation about the rock preventing scrying makes sense. Also the same reason they don't kill him may be what is keeping them from taking him into the Underdark - if he is dead or too far from his realm then someone else can take his place. However now that we have discovered this location it is likely to be less appealing to the drow as a secure prison. I think they are likely to either try to hunt us down for fear that we may relay information to someone else or they are going to flee to a more secure location even if it does allow scrying of the Great Druid's location. I am sure that if we wait in the giant's cave for a day while everyone rests the mist demons will find us.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 15:43:57 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 15:43:57 GMT -5
The notion that the rock prevents scrying was also explicitly told to us by the DM, which is a much better confirmation than logic. The question is whether the drow think it's best to flee with the druid where we can track him, or to hole up here and further fortify the area. It might actually be to our advantage if they just flee. I mean, if we know where they are, we do have a teleport without error scroll. We can use a reflecting pool or magic mirror to find him, teleport there and teleport back the next round with the druid.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 15:45:40 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 15:45:40 GMT -5
Regarding the cloud demons, the giant cave had a huge boulder which blocked entrance. We can presumably pull it back in front of the cave mouth again. The boulder obviously isn't airtight, but we'll look out for reddish smoke and start magic missiling if we see it.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 16:14:26 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Trommer on Jul 5, 2007 16:14:26 GMT -5
The elves might notive the dead giant at the bottom of the mountain. Antonus should fly down and cast invisibility on it.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 16:41:31 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 16:41:31 GMT -5
The elves might notive the dead giant at the bottom of the mountain. Antonus should fly down and cast invisibility on it. You can only target a living creature for an invisibility spell. Maybe we can cut him into pieces and carry him into his cave? Then Adrienne can speak with his head.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 17:28:06 GMT -5
Post by Wolfgar on Jul 5, 2007 17:28:06 GMT -5
Pfiffwin could cast an illusion of either a wall where the cave mouth is or a pile of rocks where the giant is. In theory he can maintain it with minimal concentration for as long as needed. He wouldn't be able to sleep but everyone else should be safer. I don't know if he has any 2nd level spells left he can swap for Improved Phantasmal Force.
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victory
Jul 5, 2007 19:03:06 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 5, 2007 19:03:06 GMT -5
I don't think that'll help much. The giant seems to be on good terms with the drow, so they'll probably send the troglodytes to ask him if he saw us leave. That'll probably get us some prisoners. Perhaps Otto can try to cover the tracks a bit? We flew from the upper cave mouth down here, so there won't be any evidence about where we went if we clear the tracks right in front of the boulder.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jul 6, 2007 6:50:27 GMT -5
I figured the drow would send out the cloud demons who won't know the terrain necessarily. The cloud demons may be simply told to search all of the caves. If they can't see the entrance to this cave they won't know they are missing it.
Have we explored the giant's cave yet? I wouldn't be surprised if there is a secret door that lets the drow come speak with the giant without having to go outside.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Jul 6, 2007 7:40:39 GMT -5
We did explore and spent a good amount of time looking for secret doors with out finding one.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 6, 2007 8:09:01 GMT -5
I wouldn't be surprised if there is a secret door that lets the drow come speak with the giant without having to go outside. That's what the troglodytes are for. If we believe Eve's story then she was wandering around the mountain and got smacked with a boulder, just like Antonus did. The giant grabbed her and gave her to the troglodytes. If the mists are searching all the caves, they might just not find this one. It's covered with a huge boulder, which they might not think we can get through.
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Post by venger on Jul 6, 2007 8:45:40 GMT -5
If the mists are searching all the caves, they might just not find this one. It's covered with a huge boulder, which they might not think we can get through. Then they might go tell their dark elf masters that we're gone and that the danger is past. And then the dark elves might let their guard down and we'll make short work of them. There's a lot of things that might happen, oh Fearless Leader. But I think they might notice signs that a huge boulder has been moved back and forth in front of the large cave entrance directly below them. And if we're all trapped inside the cave, who is going to clear away the evidence of drag marks outside the cave? And also let me reiterate that we'll all be trapped inside this cave with no secret doors or other exits.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 6, 2007 9:37:02 GMT -5
I guess the question is "What are we most afraid of?" Obviously there's danger everywhere. Camping outside is dangerous because we can be surrounded. Camping in here is dangerous because we can be trapped. On balance, I think we're better off in the cave because we can't be outflanked.
If we do decide to stay in the cave, then we need to decide how to protect ourselves. The giant body outside announces our presence in the cave pretty loudly, but the troglodytes have a relationship with him anyway so I don't think that matters too much. I'm not sure that trying to hide ourselves with an illusion from Pfiffwin is more useful than him resting to regain spells.
Before we think too hard about all this we should speak with the dead giant to see if he'll tell us about any secret paths or escape routes.
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victory
Jul 6, 2007 12:18:55 GMT -5
Post by Dell on Jul 6, 2007 12:18:55 GMT -5
We couldn't understand what the giant was saying when he was alive... do you think death will help cure his speech impediment?
In any case, we have the following options:
If we think they're going to run for it, then we should get after them as soon as we are reasonably healthy and re-spelled.
If we think they're going to make a defensive stand, we should rest as long as it takes to get back to full strength.
If we think they can summon enough demons to send them out and kill us all, then we should go back home.
Here's what I think they're going to do: set up a strong defense somewhere, with constructed barricades and a killing zone where they can concentrate their missile fire. Then they'll send a scouting party out to contact the troglodytes and see what the hell is going on with them. Then, when night falls, that same party - perhaps with some trog support - will scout the outside area to see if they can spot our party.
If they find us, they'll set up an ambush on our path. If they know an alternate way into the cave, they may sneak in and attack us that way.
I say rest, then crank up the detection and make our way back to the altar room. From there, have our three trackers trace the bad guys back to their defensive position, then we stumble into their ambush and kill them.
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victory
Jul 6, 2007 12:43:57 GMT -5
Post by Ginger on Jul 6, 2007 12:43:57 GMT -5
Sounds like a plan.
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victory
Jul 6, 2007 14:21:28 GMT -5
Post by venger on Jul 6, 2007 14:21:28 GMT -5
I say rest, then crank up the detection and make our way back to the altar room. From there, have our three trackers trace the bad guys back to their defensive position, then we stumble into their ambush and kill them. The most defensible position is that deep chasm, with the long narrow bridge. Hopefully that big spider statue doesn't come to life.
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victory
Jul 6, 2007 18:27:08 GMT -5
Post by Dead Greyhawk on Jul 6, 2007 18:27:08 GMT -5
Pfiffwin could cast an illusion of either a wall where the cave mouth is or a pile of rocks where the giant is. In theory he can maintain it with minimal concentration for as long as needed. He wouldn't be able to sleep but everyone else should be safer. I don't know if he has any 2nd level spells left he can swap for Improved Phantasmal Force. Unfortunately Pfiffwin is pretty tapped for spells. He used his last Improved Phantasmal Force for a lightning bolt, missed with a couple of chromatic orbs, and used color spray on one of the spiders.
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